PRESS
Meeting at Dean's office,Dept of Education,Edinburgh University
Updated 4/03/08
Final report on Joint Meetings of United Nations Associations of Edinburgh and Iran held in Edinburgh, January 23-26 2008
1 Participants:
UNA Iran: Mr Yadollah Mohammadi (President, UNA-Iran), with Mr Hossein Ahmadyadib, Mr Mahmood Tavana. They teach International Law but also work p/t for UNA Iran.
UNA Edinburgh: 11 members of UNA Edinburgh
Chaired by: Dr Gari Donn JP, Convenor UNA-Edinburgh
A significant number of Members of Parliament and MSPs had been notified of this visit; noted by PM and Foreign Secretary; Message of Greeting received from First Minister, Alex Salmond.
The Iranian delegation also met with Mark Lazarovitz MP, with Robin Harper MSP, with representatives of civil society at the Peace and Justice Centre, and with the Convenor of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Nation Committee.
We found our guests to be friendly, open, honest and frank, unfailingly courteous, and with a light sense of humour. The reader is asked to keep that in mind when reading what follows; each side felt free to question the other, often quite bluntly, and statements which may seem on paper to be negative were in fact made with openness, honesty and mutual respect.
2 Purpose of UNA-UNA meetings:
UNAs are neither part of government nor of the UN; as non-political civil society bodies we cannot speak for our governments, but we can speak for people. The intention of the joint meetings was for each group to come to know and understand the other better, through meeting and dialogue, and to consider issues of common interest: (i) Education of children in international affairs, (ii) disarmament; and (iii) to consider possible future joint projects.
3 Primary discussion topics:
3.1 Education of school children in international processes and affairs
UNA-Edinburgh now runs an annual Model United Nations General Assembly (MUNGA) for 14-16 year olds. Several UN agencies have offices in Tehran. With them, UNA-Iran has provided several courses on the objectives and functions of the UN and its agencies for school students and for teachers. To date some 65,000 children have participated. An exchange of students is proposed whereby a team of children/young people from Edinburgh participates in a Model UN in Iran, and a team from Iran participates in an Edinburgh MUNGA
3.2 Disarmament and non-proliferation
Both UNAs firmly reject nuclear weapons, are willing signatories (Scotland via UK) to NPT, and want to see stocks of nuclear weapons world wide reduced to zero as soon as possible..
At a UN General Assembly c.1974 Iran (with Egypt) called for a nuclear-weapons-free Middle East, a call it repeats regularly. Also Ayatollah Khomenei declared nuclear weapons to be ‘un-Islamic’ - in effect declaring a fatwa against them. Geographically, 3 of Iran’s near-neighbours have nuclear weapons but refuse to sign the NPT. Iran has never attacked another country (but has been attached with chemical weapons); its intentions are defensive, not aggressive; they want to cool the situation, not inflame it.
Both UNA’s agreed to press for disarmament in the Middle East, in particular for a nuclear weapons-free Middle East.
4 Additional issues
These inevitably came up in conversations, Q&As in civil society meetings, and around the main discussions. The most frequent were: (i) Iran and the nuclear issue; (ii) with all their gas and oil reserves, why does Iran want nuclear energy anyway? (iii) Sanctions and their effects on development, and on at least one significant occasion (iv) relations with other nations. The following subsections are an attempt to summarise the responses of our Iranian guests when these issues came up.
4.1 Iran and the Nuclear issue.
This is the ‘hot topic’ in the media and in relations between Iran and ‘the West’.
Two separate issues - peaceful power generation, and production of weapons-grade material - are commonly conflated. Iran catagorically rejects nuclear weapons, (and all WMD), but feels that a false accusation of Iran’s intent is being used as a political convenience, to create a stick to beat Iran with. ‘If it wasn’t the nuclear issue, the US would find some other pretext to squeeze us’.
Iran has signed and now abides by the NPT yet is subjected to rigorous inspections and hit by sanctions; three other states in the area have nuclear weapons, refuse to sign the NPT, and (in 2 cases at least) are actively supported by the US. To Iran this feels unfair and unjustified discrimination. Why the squeeze on Iran and not on the others? Very politely our Iranian guests said that this seemed to them to be double standards and hypocrisy; under the NPT the ‘great powers’ are meant to get rid of nuclear weapons but are upgrading them instead; the UK and others are planning to build more nuclear power stations but would deny them to Iran. They suggest that this does nothing to improve Iran-US relations.
4.2 Why does Iran want nuclear power when it has large gas and oil reserves?
UNA-Iran told us that with a growth rate of 1.1% pa, the population of Iran has doubled in 30 years to 71million, half of whom are under 25. While Iran has the world’s second largest reserves of oil and gas, these are finite. Independent studies (including by Stanford University 1974, and ref 2) conclude that given projected consumption (including exports of oil, gas and electricity as main source of foreign exchange), and growing domestic demand, Iran will need additional sources of electrical energy. By 2050 Iran will not even be able to meet domestic demand for gas, let alone have any left for export; the Stanford report reckoned Iran would need several nuclear power stations by 2015. It could make sense to mine and use their own uranium resources.
UNA Iran also said that it is important to Iran to be self-sufficient in energy supplies. Given their experience of sanctions, they do not want to be subject to another nation controlling their energy supplies, able to turn off their lights and taps at will. They therefore have reservations about the reliability of the proposed international nuclear fuel bank.
4.3 Sanctions
Iran is designated as a developing country. US sanctions also limit or prevent trade with the west. Any other nation, including EU, which trades or works with Iran above a very modest financial threshold would be subjected to US sanctions. Consequently Iran finds it impossible to acquire good-quality equipment, spares and essential parts for eg oil production. While Iran would prefer to trade and work with the west, which produces better quality equipment, it feels it has no option but to turn eastwards or to trade with Russia. Shortage of refining capacity means Iran has to import 50% of its refined petroleum requirement. Sanctions thus inhibit Iran’s economic development, impacting the people more than the government. These issues are very real for the people of Iran.
4.4 International relations and ’friends’
Iran has been seeking better relations with the US and the West for some time, and they felt some progress was being made (although the US often rejected Iran’s advances), until being included in the ‘axis of evil’ speech came as a great shock. [see also refs 3, 6]
Our visitors were asked (by Church of Scotland representative) about Iran’s relations with Russia. Working relations are good, because of the current situation - Russia is the only country willing (free?) to trade with Iran, thanks to US sanctions. But Iran and Russia are not necessarily ‘natural friends’; our Iranians intuitively felt more affinity with the west (as people to people, if not necessarily politically). Their neighbour Iraq would be a more natural friend, but for the intrusion of ‘great powers’ into the region. Relations between the people are good, if not between the governments. Asked (Church of Scotland again) how they view Israel, they politely avoided an answer. Later, in committee, relations with Israel were described as very poor, ‘problematic’, which seemed a careful understatement. (see refs 5,6 below).
Asked about their perception of US and UK, UNA Iran again distinguished between peoples and governments. In general, Iran’s image of the UK is not good, because the UK is seen as following the US line rather than thinking about its own policy independently. Although we got the impression that Iran would like in principle to cooperate with the UK on technical issues, this perception means that Iran is more likely to turn (albeit reluctantly) to the EU instead of to the UK for partnerships and trade, and thanks to sanctions they have little option but to rely on Russia.
5 Conclusion
Past history has left a legacy short on trust, but through this encounter we at UNA Edinburgh believe that Iran, or at least the people of Iran as represented by UNA Iran, seeks to build trust and better relations with the west. The experience of this joint meeting of UNAs strengthened for us our conviction that dialogue and personal encounter between peoples are indispensable if progress is to be made towards improved relationships and a more peaceful world. But talk is not enough - we need also to listen to the other, to respect their situation and views of the world as they see and experience it.
En route home through London, the members of UNA Iran met with Sam Daws, Executive Secretary, and Lord David Hannay, Chairman of UNA-UK. Afterwards Lord Hannay said, "It was good to be able to sit down with our visitors from UNA-Iran and to discuss the whole range of issues between Iran and the UN in a spirit of openness and cooperation".
We fully support Lord Hannay’s letter to the Foreign Secretary (9 August 2007) calling for unconditional dialogue with Iran.
6 Comment
This report may seem very different from what we normally hear (from politicians and through the media) about Iran. This was a ‘people-to-people’ meeting, and we believe reflected the views of well-educated Iranian people; we were not coming from political positions. However, I suggest that what we found, and report here, is quite consistent with the more in-depth studies listed below. Perhaps we need to heed Dr Ansari’s thesis (ref3): Iran and the US have ‘history’, have evolved false images of each other, and then play to those false images. That being so, we hope that our meeting may in some way help to open up further dialogue with the ‘real’ Iran.
Prepared by Liz Sim, Secretary, UNA Edinburgh Branch (lizsim@btinternet.com)
For further information contact: Liz Sim, or Dr Alec Gaines, Convenor of Non-Proliferation Working Group, UNA Edinburgh (a.f.gaines@strath.ac.uk)
Edinburgh 12 February 2008
Suggested reading:
1 Most issues of the monthly journal ‘The Middle East’ (IC Publications); in particular
2 Neil Ford: ‘Beyond the Nuclear Debate’, in The Middle East, January 2008, p 42 (Assessment of projected energy needs and resources)
3 Ali M. Ansari, ‘Confronting Iran - the failure of American foreign policy and the roots of mistrust’, Hurst & Company, 2006
(US and Iran have developed false images of each other, and play to those false images)
4 Scott Ritter, ‘Target Iran’, Nation Books 2006
(Typical of his style; an insider concerned about possible US intentions towards Iran)
5 J J Mearsheimer & S M Walt, ‘The Israeli Lobby and US Foreign Policy’, Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2007, chapter 10, ‘Iran in the crosshairs’.
(Israeli lobby (eg AIPAC) pressing US to act against Iran; not necessarily in Israel’s best interests)
6 Trita Parsi, ‘Treacherous Alliance - the secret dealings of Israel, Iran and the US’, Yale University Press 2007
(From PhD thesis; well referenced. Based on many interviews with politicians, ambassadors at UN et al. from all 3 countries. Traces ups & downs of relations between Israel and Iran; how and why Israel (and lobby) puts pressure on US to lean on Iran, especially Israel’s fears that Iran become a significant regional player, threatening Israel’s own leadership ambitions)
7 Sharam Chubin, ‘Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions’, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2006
(A useful detailed history of the issues, tries to remain objective and avoid starting from assumption that ambitions = weapons)
INTERNATIONAL LAWYERS VISIT EDINBURGH 23-26th January,2008
Edited 29/01/08
Yadollah Mohammadi, the President of the United Nations Association of Iran, together with Founder Members Hossein Ahmadyadlih and Mahmood Tavana - both international lawyers – came to Edinburgh last week to have discussions with the Edinburgh Branch of the United Nations Association about the Middle East Situation.
PROPOSAL of the EXCHANGE OF SCHOOL CHILDREN
MODEL UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLIES
Just as Edinburgh is graced by the Water of Leith, so a stream burbles its way through the centre of Tehran. In Iran the United Nations Association has helped over 15,000 children learn about the work of the UN. Similarly, the Edinburgh United Nations Association holds Model United Nations General Assemblies each year in the City Chambers; schools role-play the views of other countries.
One proposal starting with this year’s MUNGA would be for Edinburgh to host children from Iran. In exchange Edinburgh schoolchildren would sample the romance of Tehran and join with Iranian children learning of the aims and working of the United Nations. 
WORKING TOGETHER FOR MIDDLE EAST DISARMAMENT
After two hard days in Committee the United Nations Associations of Iran and Edinburgh agreed a collaborative programme to encourage disarmament of the Middle East.
1. Discussions at the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre were preceded by Moslem prayers in the Chapel of St Johns Church (West End). 
Peace & Justice Centre meeting
2. Approving the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament with Robin Harper MSP.
“Just as in Scotland’s Parliament there are 5 parties and 1 independent, so, in the Iranian Parliament besides the 2 major parties – one right and one left – all minorities with populations of over a quarter of a million have their own MPs.”
3. A Burns Night Supper with their Edinburgh United Nations Association hosts.
“…and Man wi’ Man the world o’er shall Brithers be for a’ that.” Short term
exchanges of Scottish and Iranian schoolchildren are planned for the near future. 
Home Burns Evening
4. At a breakfast meeting Mark Lazarowicz MP
(Edinburgh North and Leith) emphasised that “the British Government was
working towards a safer world in which there was no need for nuclear weapons."
United Nations Association, Edinburgh
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
(a.f.gaines@strath.ac.uk)